Be the Match (blogtoberfest day 20)

Ever since I started posting everywhere about how easy it is to register for the Nation Marrow Donor Program people have been asking if I personally know someone who needs a bone marrow donation right now. Fortunately, I do not.

Of course I have seen T.V. shows and read blogs featuring people with blood disorders or leukemia, I've cried with them, earnestly hoped for a match to be found. And yet it never occurred to me to join the registry.

my hair is wet, not greasy!

Am I evil? Crazy? Selfish? Maybe a little of the latter, but I honestly always assumed that I needed to go far out of my way and endure some kind of painful procedure to register as a donor. Something I would be willing to seek out if I knew someone in need, or if it were offered to me in an immediate setting, but not a process I could easily or conveniently stumble across. 

Turns out I was dead wrong. And once I realized how easy it is--they send the kit to you, and it is easier than brushing your teeth--something flipped inside me. An urgency. A "my-God-how-are-we-not-all-registered-this-could-save-and-change-lives" thing. 

So Matt and I took our cell samples and mailed them in the other morning. And Matt took pictures. Maybe I should have brushed my hair? Bah! We're informal here. 

upper right

They send you four swabs, but that's just for redundancy. The instructions say to throw out any that you might drop, etc. They don't need all four. Which is good, because I'm pretty sure I did the upper right twice, and missed at least one part on the left. Possibly? Maybe? But 2 upper right swabs is probably better than one dropped/thrown away swab, don't you think? Anyway, you have to swallow first, then swab one inner-cheek quadrant: swallow - upper right, swallow - lower right, swallow - upper left, swallow - lower left. One swab per quadrant. Approximately. Heh. 

lower right

You swab vigorously for 10 seconds, with the pressure you'd use to brush your teeth. So easy. Then just fill up the provided card with swabs (could there be a grosser word? "Swab" *shudder* Ew. I doubt it.), and mail them in.

See? Not so gross. You can barely tell the difference between the empty and full cards

So there it is. We sealed the envelopes and sent them out. Now hopefully one of us (both of us?) will be a match. Or if not, at least we've done our best. 

Also: know what's cool? Sending items through the mail marked Human Specimen. Creepy! Awesome! Just in time for Halloween.

Ewww! Cool.

So this arrived...

Sorry the picture's a little dark, but that's the cheek-swabbing kit from Be the Match that I wrote about not too long ago, to join the Registry for the National Marrow Donor Program. We've already mailed them back, but I'll tell you more about it tomorrow. 

This is too easy *not* to do

Oh my gosh. How did I not know one could register--AND TEST--to be a bone marrow donor from the comfort of our own homes?! Check it out: Be the Match

I just found out about this last night after my husband read Seth Godin's tweet and blog about his friend Amit Gupta's recent diagnosis of acute leukemia, and subsequent need for a bone marrow transplant. It turns out we can just fill out a short questionnaire to join the National Marrow Donor Program registry, and Be the Match will mail us cheek swabbing kits. We can just follow the swabbing instructions and mail it back. Easy-peasy! How did I not know about this before?!

YOU GUYS. It was so easy! We both signed up last night. I'll post an update when we get our kits. It's free! It comes to you! You could help save a life!

If you live in the United States or Puerto Rico and don't sign up after finding out how easy it is (assuming you meet health requirements and whatnot of course), there is something wrong with you. You can help make a sick person well. And anyone who has had a sick loved one knows that saving that person doesn't just change one life. You can change the lives of a whole network of people. DO IT.

For people outside of the US, here is a list of international donor centers.